Posts Tagged ‘
GMO ’

Over the weekend, listservs, blogs, and Twitter feeds lit up with reactions to Amy Harmon’s New York Times deep dive into the politics behind a partial ban on growing genetically modified crops on Hawaii’s main island. The fuss obscured a much more significant development that occurred with little fanfare (and no Times attention) on Friday, when[continue reading…]

Connecticut is the first state in the nation to have a law requiring labeling of GMOs. The first state! That “Still Revolutionary” slogan is apt. This success made a number of top ten lists in the food world.

CT NOFA was an important partner in making that happen.

CT Environmental Headlines supports CT NOFA’s efforts. Click on this Environmental Headline for more of this story and more from former CT NOFA Executive Director Bill Duesing.

Citizens and legislators should be proud that Connecticut is the first state to pass a law requiring the labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms, known as GMOs. Polls consistently show that 90 percent of Americans want GMOs to be labeled, and we are not alone. Sixty-two countries require GMO labeling. Those who oppose GMO[continue reading…]

Joined by lawmakers and advocates, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy held a ceremonial bill signing in Fairfield to commemorate final passage of legislation, Public Act 13-183, which requires that certain foods intended for human consumption that are entirely or partially genetically engineered to be labeled as such.

Connecticut’s GMO labeling law goes into effect only after four other states enact similar legislation. Additionally, any combination of northeastern states with a combined population of at least 20 million – including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey – must adopt similar laws.

On Tuesday, in the most expensive ballot initiative campaign in state history, Washington voters will decide whether to become the first U.S. state to force food manufacturers to label genetically modified ingredients. The measure’s opponents have raised about $22 million, helped by out-of-state agribusiness companies including Monsanto. Backers have raised about $6.8 million. Regardless of[continue reading…]

Major U.S. food and chemical companies are pouring millions of dollars into efforts to block approval of a ballot initiative in Washington state that would make it the first in the United States to require labeling of foods containing genetically modified crops. Despite early strong support for the measure, a recent poll suggests sentiment against[continue reading…]

Tara Cook-Littman of GMO Free CT, who worked for the past two years as a volunteer, tells Food Safety News that for a long time efforts to pass labeling bills went nowhere.

But things started to change two years ago once advocates formally organized themselves. While at first she and others “were dismissed as a bunch of crazy moms and environmentalists,” things started to pick up last year “when advocates were able to show themselves to be a serious movement with political power.” Click on this Environmental Headline to read more from Food Safety News.

Today we ask that you help us send a strong message to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Speaker of the House, Brendan Sharkey, that they did not silence us by passing a deeply flawed bill with a trigger clause that is meant as a roadblock.

Connecticut business owners, legislators, farmers, and residents rallied outside the capitol Tuesday morning to press state legislators to move on a bill that would require labels on genetically modified foods. Their calls were answered Tuesday night when the state Senate took up a bipartisan compromise that will require all genetically engineered foods to be labeled as such by July 1, 2016, or by July 1, 2015, if three more states pass similar legislation.

“Monsanto has gained enormous political power in the U.S., with its tentacles wrapped around Congress and the Obama Administration,” said Nancy Allen, former co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and Maine Green Independent Party, and organic small farmer for 40 years. “The reckless introduction of GMOs [genetically modified organisms] into agriculture is[continue reading…]

Today, Food & Water Watch and its European project, Food & Water Europe, released the first comprehensive analysis of the U.S. government’s strategy, tactics and foreign policy objectives to promote pro-agricultural biotechnology policies worldwide. Biotech Ambassadors: How the U.S. State Department Promotes the Seed Industry’s Global Agenda examines more than 900 State Department diplomatic cables[continue reading…]

Right now in Hartford, H.B. 6519, a bill to label genetically engineered foods and H.B. 6527, a bill to label GMO baby food and infant formula, have been introduced in the Connecticut legislature and thousands of mothers, farmers and activists across the state are joining together to show their support! Citizens in 64 other countries[continue reading…]

A Win for Monsanto, a Loss for the World The Ag giant has shown uncanny resilience—which bodes poorly for the planet’s future. By Tom Laskawy The top execs at Monsanto Corp. must be running around HQ these days like director James Cameron post-Titanic, screaming “We’re king of the world!” It’s an understandable reaction. Between a[continue reading…]

On the heels of the Public Health Committee’s vote to pass out of committee HB 6519, the Connecticut bill for the mandatory labeling for genetically modified food, the consumer advocacy nonprofit Food & Water Watch released Monsanto: A Corporate Profile.

A public forum with state legislators and advocates for the labeling of foods containing Genetically Modified Organisms took place Tuesday. Panelists included from left, Bill Duesing, Ian Skoggard, state Sen. Cathy Osten, former congressman Rob Simmons and state Rep. Tim Bowles. Click on this Environmental Headline for more from the Ledyard Patch!

Mark Winne was the executive director of the Hartford Food System from 1979 to 2003. He currently consults and writes on food system issues in Santa Fe, N.M. The General Assembly is considering passage of “An Act Concerning the Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food.” This bill would not only make Connecticut the first state to[continue reading…]

“Frankenfoods” or better living through biotechnology? State legislators, like most of us, generally aren’t rocket scientists, nor are they cutting-edge health researchers. So when it comes to genetically modified organisms, they just want what all of us want to know: Are GMOs safe? And should we know if they’re in our food? Therein lies the[continue reading…]

Jerry Greenfield, the “Jerry” in Ben & Jerry’s, hosted an ice cream social at the State Capitol on Friday, but he wasn’t just there to promote his product. Greenfield was here to support a bill that requires foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be labeled as such.

“Genetically engineered foods have lead to a major consolidation of agribusiness in our country,” said Bill Duesing, a Connecticut farmer of over 35 years, “which leaves family farmers like myself at the mercy of just a couple giant companies like Monsanto that control the whole food system. Connecticut farmers are being pushed out.” Deusing is executive director of CT NOFA, an organization dedicated to strengthening the practices of ecologically sound farming and gardening.